From Our Archives - Condensed Milk Making

DEVOTED TO SA FARMING SINCE 1911

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96 YEARS AGO In 1922, it was assumed that condensed milk making in South Africa was not a profitable venture. However, Farmer’s Weekly investigated this claim and determined that there was indeed a gap in the market for this product.

“Failures in the past have always been traceable to lack of capital, or lack of experience in manufacture.

“The enormous demand for condensed milk in South Africa is shown by the customs returns, which show that the average importations amount to more than 400 000 cases of 48 tins per annum.

COST OF MANUFACTURE

“The cost of manufacture varies with the organisation and size of the factory, capacity of machinery and the amount of the output. These variations are further modified by the cost of available labour, the price of milk, cane sugar, tin cans, box shooks, coal, other supplies and so on.

“In a properly organised plant the cost of manufacture per case of finished product decreases with the increase of the output, provided that the capacity of the machinery is sufficient to cope with such increase. When the plant is forced beyond its capacity, the factory operates at a disadvantage, and the extra labour and possible waste and losses tend to increase the cost per case.

“When the output drops below 100 to 150 cases per day, profitable manufacture becomes difficult; the overhead expenses are out of proportion to the business, the factory cannot take advantage of rebates in the purchase of supplies, the factory labour is relatively high, because skilled men have to do manual labour, and occasional losses due to spoiled goods devour the profits of a comparatively large portion of the entire output.